"Roots In Kashmir" is an initiative launched by us, the Kashmiri Pandit Youth, to reclaim our Roots that identify us. Even though we have been hounded out of our homes and hearths in the Kashmir valley, our "Roots" are very much anchored in the Vitasta Valley. This is an initiative to protest and raise the general awareness of public to a level where our "fight for our roots" is felt, heard and acted upon.
www.rootsinkashmir.org

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Geelani - Among the Civilised!

There is an interesting take away from the following press report (on Geelani at the recently concluded India Today Conclave) of a gentleman called Arpit Parashar in the Tehelka. It nomenclates Syed Ali Shah Geelani as Chairman of the Hurriyat Conference but prefers to call us as a right wing Kashmiri group.Even by my own godless ways of life and belief in the Nietzschean ideology of a dead god I wouldn’t be apologetic to call Geelani an Islamic Bigot. Look at the inverse logic that our journos including Arpit use.Geelani to them needs no affirmative fixing label irrespective of his regular pronouncements that Kashmir should merge into Pakistan because it is a muslim majority area.That he believes Islam is the glue between Kashmiris and Pakistan obviously isn’t feeding any frenzy at all,right or left.That he got Abdul Ghani Lone killed because Lone had apparently looked towards India for a solution doesn’t set any alarm bells ringing into our friend Arpit or the likes of many such apologists of hate.That Geelani invokes religion (Islam here) to drive mobs and to frenzy is pious and just because we protest against such ideologues of hate is being right wing.

I wouldn’t mind being branded a radical Hindu provided I was one. In 22 years of our exile Kashmiri Pandits have not killed, maimed or even injured one Muslim. They have not brought down,burnt,ransacked or even partially destroyed the properties of any Muslims despite the fact their own houses lie destroyed and their places of worship desecrated.Yet Arpit and likes have a nomenclature for us.

But humko kahein kafir, Allah ki marzi Hain

The idols nomenclate me as the infidel,there must be God’s will in this.

That brings us back to the India Today Conclave. We at Roots in Kashmir do believe that we must be statesmanlike when it comes to finding solutions to issues as vexed as Kashmir. Neither is it our argument not to involve people who differ with our viewpoint on Kashmir.Infact we would welcome every move that would result in a solution to the Kashmir issue. What we all need to decide is whether people like Geelani are or can actually pave the way forward for any kind of solution at all, or are they a part of the problem itself. Before a reputed media organization like India Today decided to call Geelani(unless they wanted to call his bluff, which I do not rule out) to address the conclave don’t they believe that it is necessary to do a basic background check on the man who is a sworn Islamist and known fascist even by the most liberal standards. It is not for nothing that even NDTV calls him a hardliner. Not the first time though has India Today invited a killer of humanity to its Conclave.Earlier in 2008 they had Yasin Malik to address a session on Youth.Yasin Malik is to Geelani what Chemical Ali was to Saddam Hussein.So it wouldn’t be entirely wrong to expect the Burmese dictator or even a Qadafi next year.

If India Today believes that such people could be a part of the solution then either they are too naïve or too conspiring.

Now that he was allowed rather graciously to be a part of the Aroon Puri’s solution to Kashmir let us see what he brought to the table. He looked sheepish from the word go. Clearly this wasn’t his territory.There weren’t many in the crowd albeit some Pakistani diplomats and was Nayeem Khan there too, who would purchase his blood red wares. He was incoherent, gone was his nonchalant way with which he dismisses opponents in Kashmir.The village boy looked clearly like a cat on a hot tin roof that too in a huge city. Obviously he had nothing new to say. He mumbled the usual stuff but had neatly packaged it, though he couldn’t deliver it well. He spoke of “human rights violations” and the” brutality” of the Indian State the same state that paid his medical bills and appealed to the US government to grant him a visa. Haven’t we heard that before? He didn’t explain why it took him a week despite huge public pressure to announce a hartal when two girls in his hometown were recently murdered by forces loyal to His Master’s Voice. He tried to his best evoke some sympathy among his listeners and was getting exasperated by the second because people could see through his spiel.

Though he was the last speaker of the session and thus had the opportunity to reply to Arif Mohammed Khan’s fervent, logicaland passionate speech but it seemed Geelani had clearly lost it. Seemed someone had understood the essence of Holy Koran better than Geelani and obviously had more to do with Kashmir’s glorious but pre-islamic or even secular past. He was stumped by Arif Mohammed’s references to Kalhan, Lalleshwari and Nund Rishi.Arif Mohammed had his day.But the worst for Geelani was yet to come.It was left to a young exiled Pandit to tell the audience how his mother wrapped him in a cloth to escape death at the hands of Geelani’s zealots when he was barely nine months old.The more inconvenient question was why Geelani had Abdul Ghani Lone(one of his own Hurriyat members killed). Aditya Raj Kaul had the audience cheering and when Geelani tom tommedthe usual conspiracy by Jagmohan it was received by jeers from the crowd.

(Conclave Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGxT646o4CA )

It is well known that people with dictatorial tendencies brook no opposition and therefore are not used to civil means. They are at their wits ends when questioned about their ideology or the means that they use to achieve their ends.No one in Kashmir dares ask Geelani such questions. That person would be history. Pity Ghani Loni made that mistake.

I can see the frustration in ur eyes, how illiterate are u,u people have done enough in Kashmir .it's very hard to for common people to imagine the real face of Indian people.actually there is no example of being on earth as Indians .but wait u ll suffer again as u suffered before in the the hands of brithish.u kill Kashmiris,exploit our resources try to make every policy that vanishes our culture and now u r targeting geelani ,it show u r criminals and that is why u r a worst nation .first try to increase ur standard of life then think about Kashmir I know u ll delete my comment but I am telling u ur policies won't work any more and ur fate is worse time is coming when whole India will be a Muslim country it is our mission and every Muslims mission and a prophecy that ll come true .u may die as a Hindu but ur children surely will die as Muslims.

the person above is wat u see muslim is ... He just proved why muslim are know as barbaric .... u alll are blood thursting people islam is wrongly interpreted as peace rather u r just demons on this earth who want to create a ravan raj

America r killing u like dogs on a gutter u seen wat happened to osama the same will happen to u bro , yes hindu are most liberal but i know t for sure muslims like u r not good for anything even f u change a place to muslim area , still u will fight against each other thn in name of tribes , practices , power , beauty of women ur religion preaches the wrost principles and the most barbaric principles i hav ever heard and practiciing such will take u the rottest gutter down the earth u Sole less barbaric Enemy f Humanity

i really like ur blog... i do not understand the logic of mollycoddling terrorists like gilani. when they should be shot on the streets like dogs. a very coherent response indeed. goodluck! i sympathise for pandits cause, lets unite and put pressure on government to do something.

Where is the Kashmir of Folklore?I have just returned back from my 6 days trip to Kashmir. Though we had many pleasant memories to cherish for a long time but the state of affairs in Kashmir has made me weep for this beautiful state of India. The Kashmir of today is so different from the Kashmir I saw about 30 years back. I wonder where the Kashmir of Folklore has disappeared. Where is the art of Ladishah through which the Kashmiri people expressed their problems and resentment by singing and dancing? Have the people of Kashmir forgotten the folklore of Nagrai and Heemal where Heemal (whose mind was poisoned by her jealous neighbour) to test her husband lost him inch by inch when he forever sank into the vat of milk? It is claimed that peace has returned to Kashmir, but I observed a lot of frustration and anger in many disgruntled Kashmiris. The warmth I had experienced about three decades back was absent. I have analyzed three main reasons behind it; treating all non-Kahmiris as foreigners, corruption and Pakistan’s brain washing. At the surface everything looked calm but scratch a little and you will find that those disgruntled Kashmiris are seething with rage. It is just a temporary truce of convenience. Disgruntled Kashmiris are over involved in self pity and would cry foul even on non-issues and sadly they have the maximum say in the society. They will not hesitate to be violent even on trivial day to day problems. Unfortunately, army is spread everywhere and that is the only language most of those Kashmiris now understand. If Army is withdrawn and those brainwashed disgruntled are left alone to decide their fate, separatists would succeed and Pakistan would pounce upon this opportunity and would be the first to occupy Kashmir as it has invested hugely in it. The so called Azad Kashmir or POK has similar people, art and natural wealth. They have miserably failed and are now mostly poverty stricken and have no say of their own. POK has been sold to China similar would be the fate of our Kashmir. A lot of rubbish has been stuffed into the innocent Kashmiri minds. If that garbage is not replaced by right education, nothing can stop the beautiful Kashmir from the path of self destruction. Is this bloodshed worth it? Is the so called azadi which the disgruntled Kashmiris seek really a freedom or are they weaving a fool’s paradise, a dystopia around themselves? It will be wise for the people of Kahsmir to understand that India is the biggest democracy in the world and it is becoming a world power. It will be in the interest of Kashmiri people to be part of the Indian success story. Infact, the Kashmiri people should persuade their brothers on the other side of the LOC and LAC i.e. the POK and Aksai Chin to raise their voice against suppression and deceit played by Pakistan and China on them. The need of the hour for the people of Kashmir is to reassess the situation, change their focus from self destruction and replace it with the vision of how to get back the ‘POK’ and ‘Aksai Chin’. The solution for Kashmir lies not in harping about the pains of past but to have a clear vision of future. For Kashmiri people, the détente to the issue of Kashmir is ‘self realization’ and not ‘self determination’.Rajinder Ahluwalia Advocate